2nd Series 01/11 - Magic At Work
by Macx
Summary: Cosmo develops a program to help Ace with a magic trick


  
**Magic at Work**   
by Birgit Staebler

It was early evening and the light outside was already turning into a warm dusky orange, the sun setting earlier now that winter was approaching rapidly. Electro City rarely saw a lot of snow, but sometimes flakes would drift through the sky in winter. The temperatures had dropped as well. Inside the gigantic train parked outside the city center in an abandoned railway depot, the temperatures were warm and homely. The lights were on, spreading more warmth, and the occupants were both home. All three, if you counted the large, black panther currently curled up next to the couch in the living room. It was dozing quietly while the two humans went after their own business.   
The Magic Express, as the train was called, was owned by one of the most famous people in Electro City: Ace Cooper, showstar and magician. Currently the magician was sitting on one of the chairs in his lab, eyes on a young, red-headed boy who was hacking away at the keyboard. The teen was about fourteen years old, too skinny for his height, his hair a wild mass that defied gravity, held out of his face by a headband, and his gray eyes flicked from the touchpad keyboard to the screen and back again. He was dressed in bright clothes and dark jeans, chewing on his lower lip as he worked his magic.   
Magic.   
Ace had to grin.   
Yes, Cosmo was a magician of sorts as well. Ace was no dummie when it came to computers and electronics -- Angel was his brainchild -- but there was a limit to his skills. Not so to Cosmo's. They boy was a true magician of the keyboard. What he had done so far had been incredible and currently he was working on more miracles.   
Ace had been watching Cosmo for the last fifteen minutes and he was simply amazed. There was no other word for it. Stunned maybe. Yes, stunned fit as well. Cosmo was handling the computer like he had never done anything else in his life, as if he had been born with his fingers on a keyboard. He was writing and rewriting programs, linking them, integrating them into the mainframe, running test programs, and all with such a professional air, it was hard to believe he was just about to turn fourteen.   
He smiled and shook his head. Cosmo had added some programs and Angel was running smoothly. Some glitches had been corrected. Ace felt pride rise inside of him. This was what was hidden beneath this pale, shy exterior. This was the real Cosmo. And then something surprising had happened. A few weeks ago he had found Cosmo playing with his show programs. The teen had been unaware of him watching and when Ace had given the program a closer look, he had been duly impressed. He had approached Cosmo about it and after the boy had gotten over his initial shock, he had hesitantly agreed to help Ace out.   
Cosmo was shy, he was insecure and he always expected to be punished when he thought he had done something wrong. Ace was trying to show him that it was okay to have his own ideas, to tell Ace about them, to be Cosmo. Ace never yelled at the boy, he tried to be careful in what he did and said because Cosmo first interpreted everything in a negative way, and he had finally seen little results. Slowly, very, very slowly, the teenager was opening up. He didn't trust yet, at least not enough to present Ace his ideas or criticize the older man if he thought something he wanted was dumb, but he was getting there. Ace smiled, pride showing in the smile.   
Cosmo was doing fine. Just fine. Vega was still voicing his doubts and had loudly protested the very idea of letting the teen work on Angel or anything that belonged to Ace. But Ace had just told him he trusted Cosmo. And he did. The cop was simply careful, mainly because his profession brought with it a wariness that was hard to get rid off, especially toward young delinquents. Well, he had learned once already that people could change, that young criminals could go straight, but Vega always argued that Ace had been different.   
Yes, maybe, but so was Cosmo. Ace didn't know what it was, but there was something about this boy, something that instinctively told the magician that he was a good person, that he would not fall back into the swamp of crime he was clawing himself out of. Ace made sure of that as well.   
Now Cosmo sat back, rolling his shoulders, and watched the final stages of the program unfurl, then turned to gaze shyly at Ace. His eyes wavered a bit.   
"Uh, I'm done," he announced, voice full of doubt.   
Ace wished he wouldn't be so shy around him too. Cosmo wanted to please him, to repay Ace for what he thought was generosity, and Ace was still trying to work the concept into him that he didn't want payment. Nor did Cosmo have to try and please him. He could make mistakes, he could fool around, he was a kid! But he rarely behaved like a typical kid. He was too serious for his own good, too locked up, but not all innocence had been purged by the brutality his father had exercised. It was Ace's hope. If Cosmo was shown he was truly free here, maybe he would come out of his shell.   
"Okay, then how about we test it?" he now asked, smiling.   
Cosmo swallowed. "Don't you want to look at it again?"   
He shook his head. "No. I trust you when you say it's done."   
Cosmo looked nervously at the screen. "But...."   
"Cosmo," Ace said softly, looking at him steadily, "trust yourself."   
The teen mumbled something, hands clutching the console tightly. Ace waited, not moving, knowing fully well how much Cosmo shied away from physical touches. In a way he connected it to being hurt, beaten, abused, and Ace was pained each and every time.   
"You really wanna try it?" the boy now asked, voice wavering a bit.   
Ace nodded again.   
It was actually a pretty easy trick, one Ace had come up with a while ago but hadn't had the time to play with yet. It had mostly to do with controlled fires and lots of special effects. The fire was the dangerous part because it would encase Ace in a fireproof tube where there was no escape. Everything had to be timed and the release mechanism had to be controlled by the computer.   
"So, let's see how it works outside a mainframe, shall we?"   
Ace smiled at Cosmo again and tapped a few commands into the computer. A part of the lab's floor slid open and the fireproof tube rose out of the compartment. Cosmo fidgeted nervously as Ace prepared, leaving out the show part. They just had to test the tube. All the special show effects would be laid out in the Ring Theater and equally controlled from behind the scenes.   
"Ready?"   
Cosmo swallowed. "Not really," he managed weakly.   
Ace gave him an encouraging smile once more, then he climbed inside. The heavy door closed after him.   


Cosmo felt his stomach lurge and turn into a knot of tight, cold fear. His hands were shaking and all he wanted to do was run away. Ace trusted him.... he trusted him that he would try out a program he had written. He was risking his life!   
Oh god......   
Cosmo trembled more. Him. Someone trusted him. All his insecurities rose and slammed in on his young mind. Ace trusted him with his life!   
As the tube closed around him, Cosmo felt like screaming. The countdown started. Thirty seconds before the cylinder filled with gas and the gas would be ignited. Sweat broke out on his brow and he twisted his hands, trembling.   
No, no, no......   
What if he had gone wrong somewhere? What if he hadn't tested the program properly? What if one of the links didn't work?   
What if....?   
And then everything seemed to happen at once. The countdown reach zero. Flames filled the inside of the tube, encasing whatever was inside, burning it. Burning Ace.   
"Ace! No!!" Cosmo screamed.   
There was a flaming inferno in the cylinder, eradicating anything..... everything.... Ace.....   
"Ace!"   
Cosmo's fingers flew over the controls and the flames died down. For a second he was like frozen, heart pounding in his chest, slamming against his ribs, his throat filled with a lump. He stumbled over to the tube and gingerly touched it.   
It wasn't hot.   
It was actually quite cool.   
Cool metal.   
What....?   
His mind started to work..... slowly.....   
The metal was cool. Not heated by flames. No flames meant no fried Magician....   
He had written the program.... had rewritten it... but there had been real flames.... What...?   
"Ace?" he asked gingerly.   
"Yes?"   
The voice came from behind him, startling him, and Cosmo gasped, bumping into the tube. He whirled around and stared at Ace, unscathed, not a singed hair on him. And he was smiling.   
"You... you're okay," he stuttered.   
"Did you doubt your own program?" Ace asked amiably.   
"I... I.... I don't know."   
The magician grinned and walked over to him. "Trust yourself, Cosmo." The smile disappeared, replaced by a serious expression. "I do. You have a lot of talent and you just have to use it. Trust in your abilities. You are doing just fine."   
Cosmo felt so embarrassed and a hot blush crept up his cheek at the praise and compliments. No one had ever told him that before, except for his mother. She had always encouraged him to do what he did best: work computers. His father had seen it as a waste of time, except when he tried to get his son to hack into an ATM to get to money. Cosmo had refused to do that at first, but his father had not let him get away with weak excuses or open rebellion. He had beaten him, he had locked him in that dark, cramped place until Cosmo had broken, and he had told him how useless he was.   
Cosmo bit his lower lip. It had stuck..... until a man who believed in him was encouraging him to come out of his chosen hiding place.   
"Cosmo?"   
He looked up into those gentle, gray eyes, saw the soft smile on Ace's lips, and found himself smiling back.   
"Okay?" Ace asked.   
He nodded slowly. "Cool stunt," he then said.   
Ace laughed. "Thank you. And a very good program."   
Now Cosmo blushed deeply. "'twas nuthin'...."   
Ace carefully touched his shoulder and Cosmo tried not to automatically flinch away. Ace didn't want to hurt him. Ace wanted to help. Ace had never raised his hand, had never inflicted pain.... But his mind was just on automatic when it came to grown-ups.   
A gentle squeeze followed. No pain. Just a friendly gesture.   
"Cosmo, please..... it was a lot. It was great!"   
He shuffled nervously.   
"And if you have any other ideas, feel free to tell me."   
"Uhm..... okay."   
Another gentle squeeze. Cosmo was starting to like the physical support Ace showed. The magician had held back, visibly, and Cosmo had slowly figured that he was a more open person, showing affection by little gestures and smiles. And showing support by a hand on Cosmo's shoulder or his back. Just like when Cosmo had had to go to the social service for the first time. He had been scared senseless, but he remembered the strong, warm hand on his back. The support. The strength. He had been afraid that Ace was turning him over to a social worker, even while his mind had chided him. Then he had been scared that social service might take him away. It was a much more real threat.   
But they had let him leave again. Now a social worker would come to visit every other day, check on Cosmo, and he was slowly growing tired of it.   
"So you think I can use it in my next show?" Ace now asked conversationally.   
Cosmo was stunned. "You... you would?"   
Ace nodded. "I would. It works great. A bit more effects, a little flash here or there, and we can present it." He grinned.   
Cosmo swallowed. Wow..... Ace was serious about it. He could see it. Cool......   
The older man laughed softly. "I take that as a yes."   
The teen nodded.   
"So how about you render some more help with the show effects....?"   
Really cool!   
True joy and happiness flooded him. Man, he loved this job!   
"Sure!"   
Cosmo caught himself, but the happiness stayed. For the first time, it wasn't drowned in self-doubt and insecurities.   
And it felt good.   
He wanted it to stay.   
  



End file.
